Energy Management has been recognised as one of the best Energy Consultancies in the South West region

Energy Management’s work in helping companies reduced their energy consumption was recognised at the South West Energy Efficiency Awards on Wednesday night.

Four members of the Energy Management leadership team took to the stage at the Bristol South Hilton on Wednesday night after the company was highly commended in the fiercely competitive Energy Consultancy of the Year category.

The panel of judges reacted favourably to Energy Management’s increasing influence, not only in helping companies become more energy efficient but also through its work in the local community.

Energy Management LLP CEO, Steve Retford, said: “It’s great that the progress we have made as a company over the 12 months has been acknowledged in this way by fellow industry experts. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a team with more experience and knowledge than ours.”

With schools and academies under increased financial pressure, we highlight ways to reduce energy costs.

As the number of schools converting to academies continues to rise, so does the financial pressure on school governing bodies. According to a recent report by The Observer, eight out of the top thirteen multi-academy trusts have raised warnings over mounting deficits and failure of funding to keep pace with costs. The amount of money spent on heating and lighting schools is normally second only to staffing costs so any savings that can be made in this area definitely need to be considered by any business managers, head teachers or finance officers. The good news is that utility bills can be reduced without having a negative impact on the day-to- day running of the school. Indeed, a recent report by the Carbon Trust reveals that UK schools could collectively reduce energy costs by around £44
million a year.

Our expert market analysis and energy procurement team can identify pricing trends in advance of spikes in the cost of gas and electricity so that you can get the right energy contract at the right time and right price. As well as getting the best value for your power, it is important to make sure the terms and conditions meet your needs; expensive break clauses need to be avoided at all costs.

Like any business or organisation, schools can grow. Residential development within the school’s catchment area, for example, may lead to an increase in pupil numbers and place existing facilities under pressure. Increasing the energy supply to an existing site or changing premises altogether if the current site has outgrown its use, can come with problems – and a huge amount of paperwork. At Energy Management, we pride ourselves in our ability to manage such situations and agree the best terms and conditions with energy suppliers to ensure that clients are not caught out by such a change in circumstances.

In addition to getting the best price for your power, reducing energy consumption is another obvious way of reducing energy bills. To be more energy efficient you need to know how much you’re consuming first, and this isn’t achievable without possible accurate monitoring and data logging of energy use. Our smart metering management service enables schools to identify periods when energy use is at its highest and then make informed decisions going forward.

Incredibly, significant savings can be made purely by checking utility bills thoroughly. Our research has shown that as many as one in five bills are wrong with over-charges amounting to as much as three to five percent of the overall bill total. Energy Management use a bespoke invoice-checking system to shine a light on any errors, so that action can be taken to recover any over charges as quickly as possible to ensure you are getting the deal that you signed up for.

If you would like to know how we can save energy within your school, organisation and business,
please get in touch via our contact page or telephone on 01225 867722.

To celebrate #NationalApprenticeshipWeek, we look at some of the positive benefits to hiring apprentices.

Unfettered in their thought process and not tainted by bad practices from previous employment, apprentices can be like a breath of fresh air to a company. That’s certainly been our experience at Energy Management with our latest recruits contributing so much to our operation on a day-to-day basis.

Due to its bespoke nature, energy management is not an industry that you can necessarily prepare for through university qualifications. So, purely from a cost perspective, it does not always make sense to employ a graduate over an apprentice when, in many cases, they might only know as much, or even less, but expect twice the salary as a 16 or 18-year-old. By the time a graduate leaves university, there’s a good chance our apprenticeships will have passed through Institute of Energy Management accredited training courses and been upskilled in other areas of the business.

Another plus side to bringing apprentices on board is that they have no pre-conceptions and are like ‘sponges’ in their willingness to learn. This enables you to mould them into the employee that you want them to be, and align them with your company’s culture. That said, we encourage our apprentices to have a voice and bring their fresh way of looking at things to the table. As the old sports saying goes, if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.

Having apprentices also breeds a culture of loyalty within your organisation. Provided they feel valued members of staff there is a good chance they will grow as the company grows and then share the knowledge they have learnt with the next wave of apprenticeships coming through. This organic approach to development helps to brings consistency in the message that you’re trying to deliver as a company.

Community is a big focus for us at Energy Management and we deliver our apprenticeship scheme in conjunction with the nearby Wiltshire College. Engaging with staff and the students there is important to us as we look to create opportunities for young, local talent to shine.

In short, we value apprentices because they:

* Can be trained and developed to meet the needs of the business
* Bring in new, innovative ideas and a fresh perspective
* Help address the skills gap
* Show loyalty having started at the bottom and work their way up

Meet our latest apprentices »